Counting device



p 4, 1956 c. L- HORNBERGER ETAL 2,761,361

COUNTING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 10, 1952 Filed I N V ENTORCLARENCE L. HORNBERGER DONALD B.HUMMEL ATTORNEY P 4. 1956 c. 1..HORNBERGER EIAL 2,761,361

COUNTING DEVICE Filed June 10, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR CLARENCEL- HORNBERGER DONALD B. HUMMEL Ankh-W ATTORNEY United States PatentCOUNTING DEVICE Clarence L. Hornberg'er, Manheim Township, LancasterCounty, Pa., and Donald B. Hummel, Long Beach, Calif., assignors toArmstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, Pa., a corporation of PennsylvaniaApplication June 10, 1952, Serial No. 292,754

4 Claims. (Cl. 93-93) This invention relates to a counting device and isconcerned more particularly with a device for counting resilient tilesor similar flat articles.

Resilient tiles such as so-called asphalt tiles, rubber tiles, corktiles, and the like are customarily packaged for shipment in corrugatedpaperboard cartons with a predetermined number of pieces placed in eachbox. The counting of individual pieces by workmen who till the boxes isnot commercially feasible because of the time involved in making anactual count. Usually packaging is accomplished at the end of theproduction line after final inspection, and many thousands of pieces aredelivered along the line each hour. One practice in the industry hasbeen to determine the number of pieces required to fill a carton,assuming a standard thickness, and to fill each carton. The tiles mayvary somewhat in thickness, however, or a piece or two may be slightlybowed when inserted in the box. As a result, the estimated count is notalways contained in each package. For the large merchant who isinstalling tiles from day to day, this is of no real consequence, forthe total number will average out satisfactorily, one box in the largenumber consumed over a period of time will have an extra tile tocompensate for a box which is short of tile. With the widespreadpractice of the home mechanic installing his own tile and purchasingprecisely the number of tiles he has calculated will cover the floor tobe treated, a short count of a tile or two in those necessary tocomplete the job may cause considerable delay for the mechanic andembarrassment for the dealer. As a consequence it is desirable toprovide for the accurate automatic counting of the tiles for delivery toeach carton.

Tiles of different thickness are made; heavier tiles are generally usedwhere heavy trafiic is encountered and lighter weight tiles in otherareas. Both thicknesses are made on the same equipment, the necessarychanges in setting of the forming rolls and dieing equipment being madewhen changing from one thickness to another.

An object of the invention is to provide a counting device which willaccurately count articles delivered thereto and position them in groupsof predetermined number for packaging.

Another object of the invention is to provide a counting device whichwill be readily adjustable to count tiles or other articles of differentthicknesses.

Another object of the invention is to provide a counting device whichwill orient the counted articles in a position where the group ofcounted articles may be conveniently grasped, with the articles disposedin the form of a parallelepiped, facilitating their insertion into apacking carton.

A further object of the invention is to provide a counting device whichwill deliver its counted articles to a compartmented reel with suitablecontrols provided for the delivery of a predetermined number of countedarticles to each bin or compartment after the same is rotated toarticle-receiving position, permitting each bin to be filledsequentially while another bin is being manually or other- PatentedSept. 4, 1955 wise emptied and the articles delivered to a carton orpackaging station, for example.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from considerationof the following description of an embodiment of the invention which isillustrated in the attached drawings, in which:

Figure l is a sectional view taken along the line AA F gure 2 showing aportion of a counting machine embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a rear elevational view of a counting machine showingprincipally the compartmented reel and some of its control equipment;

Figure 3 is a perspective view, partially broken away, showing thedetails of an adjusting mechanism useful in converting the counter fromoperation on one thickness of article to another;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of the driving and clutching arrangementfor one of the counting units of Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 5 is a wiring diagram of the counting and conro-l equipment forone of the counting units; and

Figure 6 is a top plan view of a portion of one of the units of Figure1, illustrating the pressure arrangement of Figure 3 in position on themachine.

The counting unit shown in the drawings is of the multiple counting linetype; and, since each line is essentiaily the same, one will bedescribed. There is a holder 2 (Figure l) for the reception of a stackof articles 3 to be counted. in the embodiment illustrated, tiles suchas asphalt tiles are being counted. An escapement belt 4- delivers thearticles, one at a time, to a counting zone where a counter is located,including photocell 5 (Figure 2), a light source 6, and a reflector 7(Figure l) for directing the beam of light from the source into thephotocell. Driven advancing rolls 8, operating at a surface speedgreater than that of the escapement conveyor 4, separate the articles asthey pass through the counting zone, and thus the reflected beam oflight is intermittently directed into the photocell during the intervalbetween the passage of one article over the reflector 7 and the entranceof the next article into the counting zone. The articles after passagethrough the counting zone are delivered to an indexed rotatablecompartmental bin or cell 9 which receives groups of counted articlesand orients them for convenient grasp and insertion into packingcartons.

The holder 2 (Figure 6) comprises a pair of edge guides it mounted abovethe escapement belt 4, a pair of ad justable escape gates 11, a rearguide 12, and a supporting plate 13 (Figure 1) over which the escapementbelt 4 is trained. These elements form a pocket which supports a stackof articles in a slightly inclined position as shown in Figure l, withthe loweimost article in the stack lying on the surface of theescapement belt 4. These pockets may be filled by an operator, or thearticles to be counted may be delivered thereto automatically from aninspection belt, for example.

One of the escape gates 11 is of right-hand pattern (Figure 3) and theother of let -hand pattern, and they are mounted upon an eccentric crossshaft 14 journalled in bearings in bearing blocks 15. The gates 11 aremounted for sliding motion in a generally vertical direction in ways 16providing in the bearing blocks. The lower edges of the gates which facethe stacked articles 3 are inclined downwardly as indicated at 17 tofacilitate the movement of the lowermost article in the stack under thegates upon movement of the escapement belt. The lower edge 18 of each ofthe gates 11 is disposed in an adjusted position above the escapementbelt 4 to permit passage of only a single article therebelow. Thearrangement is such that when the lowermost article passes out frombelow the gates, the next article above drops into position on theescapement belt and is delivered immediately behind the first article.This action continues so long as the escapement belt is in motion,article following the other in closely spaced relations p.

The advancing rolls 8, as mentioned previously, serve to separate thearticles for effective counting and also to deliver the counted articlesto the reel 9. Positive driving of the articles through the countingzone is effected by pressing the articles into engagement with the firstof the advancing rolls 8. This is accomplished by a pair of presserrollers 19 (Figures 3 and 6) which are mounted on arms 20, the one end21 of each of which is received over an eccentric lobe 22 of eccentricshaft 14. A rest bar 23 extends transversely of the machine and isprovided with adjustable stops 24 which engage the lower surfaces ofarms and space the presser rollers 19 above the advancing roll 8 adistance to permit entrance of an article therebetween, the articlelifting the rollers and arms by pivoting the arms about lobes 22, theweight of the assembly holding the article in engagement with drivenadvancing roll 8 therebelow and insuring positive driving of the articleat a speed greater than the surface speed of the escapement belt andthus separating advancing articles moving into and through the countingzone.

The gates 11 and the rollers 19 are arranged for simultaneous adjustmentto accommodate articles of difierent thicknesses such, for example, asresilient tiles /8 and A in thickness. This is effected througheccentric shaft 14 which, as previously mentioned, has lobes 22 whichreceive the hollow cylindrical ends 21 of the presser roller arms 29.Similar lobes 25, of different throw than lobes 22 because of differentangular position and length of the arms 20, are provided for the gates11 which are bored to receive the lobes 25. An operating handle 26 issecured to the eccentric shaft 14; and upon rotation of this shaft bymovement of handle 26 through an arc of 180, gates 11 are raised orlowered and rollers 19 are comparably raised or lowered, the presserroller arms 2% pivoting over adjustable stops 24. Specifically assumingthe machine has been running articles 4 thick and it is desired toadjust it for articles thick, operating handle 26 will be rotated in acounterclockwise direction as viewed in Figure 3 through 180, and thiswill elevate the gates 11 to permit an article thick to pass therebelowand will raise presser rollers 19 a comparable amount so that they willproperly engage articles thick without damage or impediment to propermovement through the machine. members such as thumb screws 2! areprovided for locking the unit in adjusted position. The eccentric shaft14 is preferably provided with flats on diametrically op posite surfacesto receive the ends of the thumb screws.

Each of the four sections of reel 9 is provided with six bins-B, C, D,E, F, and G as shown in Figure l. The number of bins is not critical,but six provide for filling with a bin disposed in a substantiallyhorizontal plane, such as bin B of Figure 1, while an advanced bin, binD of Figure 1, is in a position where the stacked articles are disposedfor convenient grasp by an operator for delivery into a packing cartonor for positioning in a packaging device.

There is a hollow shaft 28 which is common for all of the reel sections.Compartment dividers 29 project radially from the shaft 28 and aresecured in position thereon by clamping plates 30 secured to the shaft28 by bolts 31. Each compartment divider 2.9 is provided with anorienting plate 32 which, as shown in Figure 1, holds the stack ofarticles to be discharged from bin D in an inclined position. Theorienting plate 32 is of a width less than the width of the articles asshown in Figure 2, permitting the operator to grasp the outside edges ofthe stack of articles with both hands. The clamping plate 30 ispreferably covered with rubber or other yielding Clamping whereupon,

material against which the articles are delivered by the feed rolls 6,the yielding material preventing damage to the edges of the articleswhich may be delivered to the compartments at considerable velocity. Thecompartment dividers 29 are provided with flanges 33 which are inclinedto provide for firm locking of the dividers by clamping plates 30 andalso to incline the plates 30 in such manner that the stack of articlesin bin D to be discharged lie in a position with the projecting edgesdisposed in an inclined position. This facilitates feeding of thearticles into a carton, the length and width of which is but veryslightly greater than the length and width of the articles.

The arrangement for driving each of the escapement belts 4, the sets ofadvancing rolls 8, and the reel 9 is shown diagrammatically in Figure 4.There are individual drive arrangements for each escapement belt, butthe advancing rolls are driven continuously with a common drive, and thereel is arranged for rotation as a unit. The driving arrangementincludes a main drive motor 34 which is connected to a speed reducer 35by a flexible coupling 36. A chain 37 is trained over a sprocket 38 onthe output shaft of reducer 35 and over sprockets secured to the shaftsof advancing rolls 8 and an idler tension-adjusting sprocket 39. Thearrangement may be such that the surface speed of the advancing rolls 8may be about 178 feet per minute. As previously mentioned, these rollsare driven continuously during operation of the counter.

Each of the escapement belts 4 is driven intermittently through a clutchand brake unit 40, such as a Stearns Magnetic Clutch and BrakeCombination manufactured by Stearns Magnetic Manufacturing Company ofMilwaukee, Wisconsin, one such unit being provided for each escapementbelt. Driving is eifected through a sprocket 41 connected to the outputshaft of reducer 35 and a sprocket 42 connected to a common clutch shaft43 for the clutch and brake units 40. A driving dhain 44 is trainedabout the sprockets 41 and 42. The clutch sleeve of each unit 40 carriesa sprocket 45, about which is trained a chain 46 encircling a sprocket47 on the drive pulley shaft 48 of the escapement belt. The arrangementis such that, when the clutch of a unit 40 is-engaged, the escapementbelt for that unit will be moved in the direction of the arrow at aspeed of about 120.5 feet per minute, for example, and will continue tooperate until a predetermined number of articles, say twenty-five, haspassed through the counting zone and been counted; the counter willinitiate a control which will of the particular unit 40 and simulbrakeof the unit, halting motion of arrangement will be disengage the clutchtaneously apply the escapement belt 4. The control more fully describedlater.

Upon delivery of the counted articles to bin B of reel 9, the bin willbe rotated through one-sixth of a revolution to bring bin G intoposition to receive the next group of counted articles. Where there area plurality of reel sections 9, as in the illustrated embodiment, thereel sections preferably will be rotated in unison and such rotationwill be controlled to prevent rotation unless all operating sectionshave received their complement of articles. For purposes of illustrationand to simplify description, it will be assumed that only one section isin operation.

Rotation of reel 9 is effected through a gear reducer 49 which is alsodriven by motor 34 through reducer 35. A clutch and brake control unit50 similar to unit 40 is connected to an output shaft of reducer 35. Asprocket 51 is secured to the clutch sleeve of unit 50 and drives achain 52 which is trained over a sprocket 53 on the input shaft of speedreducer 49. The output shaft 54 of reducer 49 is connected to hollowshaft 28 of reel 9. When the clutch of unit 50 is engaged, rotation ofreel 9 is effected, and when the clutch is disengaged the brake of unit50 is engaged and rotation is arrested.

Control of movement of the various units described above may beefifected electrically as indicated by the simplified wiring diagram ofFigure 5.

In the electrical control arrangement shown in Figure 5, provision hasbeen made for rotation of the reel 9 upon delivery of a predeterminednumber of articles to a single bin B. Those skilled in the art will haveno difiiculty in incorporating a circuit which will actuate the reelwhen all or any number of the bins B of the reel sections have beenfilled (there are four sections in tandem shown in Figure 2), thuspresenting the next series of bins G for filling.

There is a photocell counter which includes a ratchet counter-switch 56with a normally closed contact 57 and a normally open contact 58.Contact 57 is open during counting, however, and contact 58 is closed;the positions of the contacts reverse at countout as will be more fullyhereinafter described. in Figure 5 the equipment is shown in theposition assumed by the various elements when all electrical power hasbeen removed from the system. A limit switch 59 is mounted as shown inFigures 1 and 2 and includes a contact actuating arm and rollercontroller arrangement 60 which rides on a cam 61, the cam normallyholding the switch 59 closed. The cam 61 rotates with the reel 9 and isprovided with six lobes with separating recesses 62, corresponding innumber with the compartments or bins 3-6 of the reel 9, and controllingthe reel upon each one-sixth or" a revolution to bring the bins, one ata time, into article-receiving position. When controller 60 of limitswitch enters a recess, switch 59 is momentarily opened. Limit switch 59is shown in the lower right-hand portion of Figure 5 and is connected tocontrol the operation of a counter reset relay 63.

Assuming the limit switch 59 to be closed and power to be applied to thesystem through lines 64 and 65, counter reset relay 63 will beenergized, closing its contact and completing a circuit from line 64 toa solenoidcontrolled clutch 66 for the counting unit 55. The solenoid isnormally connected to the line by a lead 67. Upon engagement of theclutch 66, contact 58 is closed and contact 57 is opened, such contactsbeing mechanically connected with the solenoid 66. Upon closing ofcontact 58 a conveyor clutch relay 68 is energized. This closes contact69 and supplies direct current to the conveyor clutch unit 40 shown inFigure 4. Thereupon the escapement belt 4 moves to deliver articles 3from the stack to the bin B as shown in Figure 1. As each article passesthrough the counting zone it interrupts the light from source 6 beingdirected into the photocell 5 by the reflector 7, and the ratchetcounter-switch 56 is moved stepwise as each article interrupts the lightdirected to the photocell 5. Upon the passage of a predetermined numberof articles through the counting zone, the counter 56 will complete itscount and open contact 8 and close contact 57. When this occurs, relay68 will be tie-energized and the escapement belt 4 will be stopped byapplication of the brake of unit 40.

When a count has been completed and contact 57 is closed, the reel 9 maybe rotated to bring a new compartinent or bin into position to receivecounted articles. When the operator is ready to receive a new group ofcounted articles for packaging, he presses an index button 70. Thiscompletes a circuit for reel relay 71, and its contacts 72 and 73 close.When contact 73 closes, it completes the circuit for a reel clutch relay74 through contact 57 and leads 75, 76, and 77. Energization of relay 74closes contacts 78 and 79. Contact 78 serves to interlock the relay 74.Contact 79 completes a circuit for the direct current clutch and brakeunit 50 which controls rotation of the reel 9. A second limit switch 80is mounted on the machine as shown in Figure l and has an arm and rollercontroller arrangement 31 which follows cam 61. This limit switch hastwo contacts 82 and 83, the contact 82 being normally closed and contact83 being normally open when the controller 81 is in one of the recess 62of the cam as shown in Fig ure 1. Since contact 82 is closed, relay 71is interlocked by contact 72 and the operator need not hold index button70. Immediately after the reel 9 starts its rotation, controller 81leaves the recess 62 and the contacts 82 and 83 are reversed, reel relay71 then being de-energized by opening of contact 82. Reel clutch relay74 will remain energized, however, by interlock contact 78 throughcontact 83 of the limit switch and lead 76. When reel 9 moves to a pointwhere controller 60 of limit switch 59 enters the next recess 62, thecontact of switch 59 will be momentarily opened, de-energizing resetrelay 63 and solenoid clutch 66. Spring action returns the counter to azero setting, and contacts 57 and 58 are momentarily reversed ascontroller 60 falls into the recess 62 and is again elevated by theoncoming lobe of the cam 61. This does not affect reel clutch relay 74,however, because of its interlock contact through contact 83 of limitswitch 80 as mentioned above. Movement of the reel 9, therefore,continues until controller 81 of limit switch 80 enters the next recess62 of cam 61; whereupon, contact 83 opens and contact 82 closes. Openingof contact 83 interrupts the supply of energizing voltage to reel clutchrelay 74, and it falls open, breaking the circuit for the reel clutch 5Gand applying the brake of that unit to stop the reel with bin G inposition to receive counted tiles.

It will be noted by reference to Figure 1 that the limit switches 59 and89 are so positioned on the machine that controller 60 of switch 59 islowered and raised by movement of the cam 61 immediately prior tomovement of the controller 81 of switch 80 into a recess 62 to interruptthe rotation of the reel. This permits the delivery of articles by theescapement belt 4 to commence just as soon as the counter has been resetby the momentary interruption of the current supply to the reset relay63 which occurs when the controller 60 of limit switch 59 moves into arecess 62 of cam 61. By the time the first article is delivered throughthe counting zone, the reel 9 will have come to rest.

We claim:

1. In a device for counting articles and segregating the same intogroups of a predetermined number of articles, the combination of arotatable reel, a plurality of bins on said reel and movable therewithto bring said bins, one at a time, into article-receiving position,means for delivering articles seriatim through a counting zone to a binof said reel, counting means responsive to passage of said articlesthrough said counting zone to said bin, means responsive to saidcounting means for stopping said delivering means upon delivery of apredetermined number of articles through said counting zone, and meansresponsive to rotation of said reel which brings another bin intoarticle-receiving position for starting said delivering means to deliverarticles to said other bin of said reel.

2. In a device for counting articles and segregating the same intogroups of a predetermined number of articles, the combination of arotatable compartmentalized reel, a plurality of bins on said reel andmovable therewith to bring said bins, one at a time, intoarticle-receiving position, means for delivering articles seriatimthrough a counting zone to a bin of said reel, counting means responsiveto passage of said articles through said counting zone to said bin,means responsive to said counting means for stopping said deliveringmeans when a predetermined number of articles have passed through saidcounting zone into said bin, means for rotating said reel to anotherposition when said predetermined number of articles has been received insaid bin to bring another bin into position to receive articles fromsaid counting zone, means controlled by said counting means forpreventing rotation of said reel until the bin being filled has receivedits predetermined number of counted articles, and means controlled byrotation of said reel to said other position for starting saiddelivering means to deliver articles to said other bin of said reel.

3. In a device for counting articles and segregating the same intogroups of a predetermined number, the cornbination of a rotatable reeland a plurality of bins on said reel and movable therewith to bring saidbins, one at a time, into article-receiving position, one wall of eachof said bins being essentially plane and unobstructed for the receptionof articles delivered to said bin, with said bin disposed inarticle-receiving position, and the opposite side of said wall having anorienting guide fixed thereto and projecting laterally therefrom tospace said articles from the wall of the bin in an inclined position forconvenient grasp upon rotation of said bin through an angle of 180 fromsaid article-receiving position to an articledischarge position.

4. In a counting device, the combination of claim l in which said meansfor delivering the articles comprises a travelling conveyor, a drivenroll disposed adjacent to said conveyor for positively moving saidarticles seriatim through said counting zone, a support for holding astack of articles to be counted disposed on said conveyor with thelowermost article of the stack engaging said conveyor,

an adjustable gate mounted above said conveyor and limiting movement ofsaid articles therebelow to a single article at a time, a pressuremember for urging the articles passing below the gate on said conveyorinto engagement with said driven roll to be positively moved thereby,and means for simultaneously adjusting said gate and pressure member toaccommodate articles of different thicknesses.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS493,524- Sabold Mar. 14, 1893 1,221,196 Lewis Apr. 3, 1917 1,674,319Cranston .Tune 19, 1928 1,682,578 Nipchild Aug. 28, 1928 1,901,062Sharkey Mar. 14, 1933 2,031,136 Sewick Feb. 18, 1936 2,069,397 BarthFeb. 2, 1937 2,506,550 Morrison May 2, 1950 2,580,469 Schwartz Ian. 1,1952 2,639,916 Annes May 26, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 369,167 Germany Feb.15, 1923

